Boxcar wood?

[joshpaul]

I'm wondering if anyone has any information regarding where boxcars go when they're retired. I'm particularly interested in reclaiming the flooring to make some furniture. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated -Josh

[ndbprr]

I doubt you are going to find many if any box cars with wood floors today. Railroads began replacing wood floors with nailable steel floors in the 50s. Basically a series of channels smooth side up allowing nails to be hammered into the seams. A large number are in dedicated service containing racking to ship parts like exposed auto sheet metal, transmissions, engines, etc. Best bet may be to contact a rr near you and ask where they rebuild cars and what they do with the wood if they are replacing it.

[Firelock76]

I'm not sure, but I'd guess the old boxcar floors were made of oak, strong, tough, and very durable.  Ships hulls in the age of sail were made primarily of oak just for that reason.

But as the previous poster said, I'd imagine there aren't many wood floor boxcars out there anymore.

[NorthWest]

I suspect that the wood floors would also be in rather rough shape from all the abuse they get.

[joshpaul]

Yep it's oak and it's seen abuse, which is what gives it so much character.. I lucked into some a couple years ago and built some beautiful furniture out of it. My source dried up though and I was thinking someone on this site might know of an old boxcar sitting around that wanted its' floor recycled. Here's a link to what it looks like - http://www.reclaimeddesignworks.com/reclaimed-products/reclaimed-boxcar-planks/

[ndbprr]

What about wood from a semi trailer floor? They still use wood.